#lgbt devs

[I.D.: A gifset containing four gifs of the upcoming game Tchia.

Gif 1 shows cutscenes of the player character, Tchia, in various gameplay activities such as crafting, sliding down a slope, and running. One shot includes a close up of Tchia’s eye with magical green lights around it.

Gif 2 shows Tchia riding a boat to the shore of a beach.

Gif 3 shows Tchia’s special ability of Soul Jumping to take control of a flying bird.

Gif 4 shows Tchia playing the ukulele before switching to another shot of her running and jumping onto a bird to ride it.

end I.D.]

Tchia is a game inspired by New Caledonian cultures! Play as Tchia, and embark on a heartfelt adventure in a physics-driven, open-world sandbox island. Take control of over 30 animals or objects, jam on your fully playable ukulele, meet a diverse cast of characters, and customize your style!

Set to release Spring 2022 for PS4, PS5, and Windows.

[I.D.: A photoset containing four screenshots from the visual novel game Love on the Peacock Express: A Short Mystery MILF Dating Game. 

Image 1 shows the game’s title card with its main characters beneath it. The romance options Iris, Cassandra, and Vic stand together next to another character, the train conductor.

Image 2 shows Cassandra with her dialogue reading, “Do your investigations usually require this much gawking?”

Image 3 shows Vic, who is described as “Salt-and-Pepper Butch” by the player character. Vic is saying, “Looks like we’ll be locked in this little room together for a while. Why don’t you come in and take a load off?”

Image 4 shows Iris with her dialogue saying, “They treated me like a queen. It’s one of the happiest memories of my life.”

end I.D.]

Love on the Peacock Express: A Short Mystery MILF Dating Game is a visual novel about solving mysteries and kissing hot older women! Play as a private investigator and solve one of three mysteries tied to three different women: Iris, a trans diva and singer; Vic, a blue-collar butch grifter; and Cassandra, a CEO with power and influence. Piece together clues and flirt your way through one of three romance routes with two unique endings!

For free on Windows, Mac, and Linux. 

[Image ID: A photoset of the interactive browser game Tamales: Con Familia.

Image 1 shows a top down first person view of a kitchen table. On the left is a plate of tamale husks and the player holds one in their left hand. Their right hand is guided to spoon in masa from a blue bowl, and a meat filling from a pink bowl. A pink speech bubble from a speaker out of frame says, “I cannot believe that Hector didn’t show up today with his family. It’s like he doesn’t care that we’re trying to get together.” The food is being assembled over a dark red placemat.

Image 2 shows the player with a completed tamale in one hand. A tray of other tamales is on the right side of the screen. A blue speech bubble says, “Good food takes time, and I have you all to help me. I’m just happy to have my girls.”

Image 3 shows the player holding a tamale husk in one hand, and a spoon full of masa in the other. A pink speech bubble says, “Now that mom’s out of the room, do you really think she’d be better in Mexico? All of her children and grandchildren are here.”

Image 4 shows the player holding a tamale husk with masa on it. Their right hand is holding a spoon of the meat filling. A mint green speech bubble is saying, “Family is still family. We’ll always find a way to stay connected.”

End Image ID.]

Tamales: Con Familia is a simulation game about preparing tamales with your family! Play as a shy, young kid and listen in on the conversations of your mother, sisters, and grandmother. As your family reminiscences on Mexico, explore stories inspired by the writer’s family that touch upon loss and change.

For free as a browser game.

[I.D.: A gifset containing four gifs of the soap opera game Mutazione.

Gif 1 shows the player character, Kai, in two scenes interacting with the townsfolk. In one scene, she sits with a bunch of them outside as they eat together. In the next scene, she floats in the water with a blue character.

Gif 2 shows Kai utilizing the game’s gardening interface, browsing her seed box inventory to select a Red Ti Plant.

Gif 3 shows Kai standing with two townsfolk, one of whom resembles a sort of bug. They are gathered around a little hot dog character who farts and runs off smiling. The bug-like character gets angry.

Gif 4 shows Kai sitting on a bench with her grandfather. They are surrounded by plants and music. Kai says, “There’s so much... more though.”

end I.D.]

Mutazione is a soap opera about supernatural mutants! Play as 15-year-old Kai, who is tending to her ailing grandfather as she explores the Mutazione community. Discover magical gardens, make friends, uncover old secrets, dream of a creepy bird-like figure, and navigate small-town drama to survive an apocalyptic meteor strike!

For Mac, Windows, PS4, iOS, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.

Developed by Die Gut Fabrik, a studio based in Copenhagen, Denmark whose name means “The Good Factory” in German. They aim to develop diverse and marginalized talent through teaching, internships, advocacy, and accessible designs and have collaborated with Akupara Games. 

Their team of developers and collaborators include Creative Producer Ben Wilson; Programmer Moo Yu; Animator Rosanna Wan; Writer Sharna Jackson; and Sound Designer and Directer Tanuja Amarasuriya. 

[I.D.: A photoset containing four screenshots of the Twine text game Child of Light.

Image 1 is of the game’s cover. It presents a scratchy drawing of a feminine figure reaching up to the sky as beams of white light shine from the form. The figure appears to be overlayed on top of a land mass surrounded by water, with clouds surrounding her body.

Image 2 is of white text from the game against a black background. The text reads, “Invaders. Encroachers wanting the land: the cave, the resources, the women. We are too few to fight these distant cousins. We will go to another place.” Blue text of a link within the game then reads, “Come along! hurry, before they come.”

Image 3 shows italicized white text against a black background. The text says, “Nona’s mother’s tribe had crept nearer after hearing the screams of the doomed, finding a young woman who’d not reacted to their approach. One of the warriors had thought to take her as his own until he saw the dead baby she carried.” Two options for the player, both presented as links with blue text, read “Stay in the cave and fantasize” and “Approach the old woman again.”

Image 4 shows white dialogue text against a black background that says, “We’ve been waiting for you. We’ve all been waiting for you. We are all here now, all the Children of Light. Welcome home.”

end I.D.]

Child of Light is a short text-based game about a fantasy world set in the ancient past. Play as a young girl as she survives by making hard choices. But no matter how dark the consequences may be, there is always a ray of light. 

For free as a browser game.

[I.D.: A gifset containing four screenshots of the interactive fiction game OCHITSUBAKI.

Image 1 shows the typical layout of the game. On the lefthand side of the screen is the game’s title in both Japanese and English. Beneath the title are the poetry lines “A fallen camellia / is a beheading, / every time, / every petal falling / at once: / a severing.” Beneath the poetry is “Feyxuan,” the name of the game’s author. In the middle of the screen is a computer window with a pixelated, retro portrait of the character Hanashiro. Another window of another character is beneath it. A third window on the righthand side of the screen reads, “The tongue of the heavens, of seven, of worth, of more than the fen and the murk and the mercury of star, too far, I can taste it. If I want to taste the language of heaven, I will have to go seek out my remaining bretheren.” The overall screen is tinted purple.

Image 2 shows the game with its graphics colored in black and white. In the middle of the screen is a computer window with an anime-styled portait of a character that’s captioned “Lun Kochouran.” The window on the right of the screen reads, “I live or die at your service. (Kill, too, I suppose).”

Image 3 shows the game tinted purple again. Two narrative options are presented on the righthand of the screen. One says, “Shiragiku, who holds the line, in the same place, every time, the MOONFLOWER CASTLE of crescent, incandescent, who holds no love for me but keeps me in mind, we meet once every Time.” The other option says, “Shirayuri, unremembered, forgotten in every wreckage of world, reborn after every new age unfurls, who I knew when my goddess was just a girl, and who not once, not once have I found with their SWALLOW-wings, damage unwrought since the Age of Erl.”

Image 4 shows the screen colored in black and white again. The righthand window says, “A celestial king of heaven. And there you’ll go back again. I don’t know what to do. So I kiss you.”

end I.D.]

OCHITSUBAKI || 落ち椿  is an experimental visual novel about the impossibility of translating trauma and recovering from it. Play as Hanashiro (he/she/they) as they and their few remaining kin react to the trauma of being immortal and witness the apocalypse agin ang again during different reincarnation cycles. With language translations playing a vital role in your route, make enemies, learn the Amayuri tongue, and possibly be the first to kill an immortal.

For Windows and Mac. A free demo is also available. 

[I.D.: A gifset containing four gifs of the puzzle room game Waiting For Evening.

Gif 1 shows a slowly rotating top down view of a bedroom. Three rings surround the view, along with five hand drawn portraits of the characters Rehan, Feroz, Frieda, Najma, and Meher.

Gif 2 shows a shot of a bedroom. Majma’s character portrait appears, with her dialogue box saying, “You are Feroz Saab’s (Sir’s) son?” Rehan, the player character, replies, “Yes, how did you...”

Gif 3 shows a top down view of the room. It’s surrounded by three rings, one labeled 1927, one labeled 1943, and one labeled 1959. An item labeled “The Cricket Bat” is highlighted in the room. When the player selects it, the characer Feroz appears says, “Our best cricket players were Parsi back then. like us...” To the right of the screen, a red book is opened to a live action black and white photograph of Indian cricket players.

Gif 4 shows the player looking at a nightstand with an open book and a clock on top of it. From the corner of the screen, a red book opens to reveal a handrawn image of a horse that extends from the book to the rest of the screen before fading away.

end I.D.]

Waiting For Evening - सांझ का इंतजार is a gentle, generational drama about the personal life of Frieda, a queer Anglo-Indian woman, and her past in the colonial then independent Bombay (now Mumbai). Play as her stepson, who searches Frieda’s home for papers after the death of his father. With items holding history from the 1920s to the 1960s, explore Frieda’s life in this ode to places left behind, cultural crossroads, environmental shifts, intimacy, and relationships at the bounds of society.

For free on Windows.

[I.D.: A photoset containing five screenshots from the game Portrait of a Texas Family.

Image 1 shows the character customization menu. Brown skin, a hairstyle of long reddish brown dreadlocks swept over the shoulder, a large chest, a large body, and dark brown eyes are selected.

Image 2 shows the player character standing in their living room with three dialogue options listed. They read, “Text Martín that you need to chat when they arrive,” “Wait for them to get home,” and “Text them that you love them.”

Image 3 shows the player at the beach with their transgender daughter Sofía and their partner Martín. Martín’s dialogue text box says, “...It’ll be your first time playing with other kids since you told us how you felt, right?”

Image 4 shows a desk with a computer on it. The player’s internal thoughts in a text box say, “All of this was meant to show how unconditional we both were in our love and care for our daughter in case Child Protective Services ever investigated us.”

Image 5 shows the family outside of a small market. Martín, with arms crossed, says, “I know to you it’s just clothes, but you need to be careful about saying certain comments in public spaces.”

end I.D.]

Portrait of a Texas Family is a slice-of-life game about love and resilience. Set amidst Texan Governor Greg Abbott’s transphobic state orders, care for your transgender daughter, Sofía, as you and your partner Martín gather items for your “safe folder.” Customize yourself and recount key, gender-affirming moments from the past as you and your family prepare for an unknown, but hopeful future.

For free on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Developed by Lookout Drive Games, a diverse studio in New York City that aims to create inclusive, narrative-driven games. They were inspired by a tweet from Denton, Texas mother and activist Amber Briggle in response to Texan Governor Greg Abbott’s order declaring trans-affirming healthcare for children as a foundation of parental abuse. The game’s page also links to the following charities to help transgender children and their families: 

Equality Texas

Organización Latina de Trans en Texas

Transgender Education Network of Texas

Trans Pride Initiative

ACLU of Texas

Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund